Welcome to ESSENTIALS: Exploring Doctrines of the Christian Faith. For eleven weeks, we are going to work our way through doctrines of the Christian faith. These doctrines, beliefs, or theological concepts, are essential components of a vibrant faith and a basic understanding of God. 

We teach from the Bible every Sunday and study the Scriptures in home groups and on our own. But the Bible is a big, diverse, complicated collection of letters and documents and stories, such that it’s not always easy to know what goes with what. Doctrines help us organize the essential ideas of Scripture into categories that we can latch onto. These doctrines are containers for immense ideas: God, creation, humanity, salvation, the church, mission, etc. 

From age 8 to about age 16, I played basketball pretty much nonstop. And at every level, from elementary school up into high school, we emphasized the same essentials: defensive stance, dribbling skills, footwork, layup drills, shooting form, conditioning, and even warm-up stretches. Whether you're a middle schooler getting ready to try out for your first competitive team or you're Victor Wembanyama, you start with the basics, and you never leave them behind. In fact, in every area of life, no matter how advanced or experienced we become, we persist in the essentials. So let's take these eleven weeks and focus on some essentials together. It’s sure to do all of us good.